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Heads in the Sand, Blood on Their Hands

Jan 2, 2015

There are plenty of clueless wonders in the world who are putting us all at risk by their inability or refusal to face reality. There are so many folks with their heads in the sand, totally oblivious to some very real and ugly threats which we must face, or we perish.

Yet for so many of these guys, just pretending that everything is hunky dory, and hoping that any possible dangers will somehow just mysteriously vanish all by themselves seems to be their preferred way of dealing with the world around them.

Some of them are well-meaning, and simply want to put a positive spin on everything. I encounter these people often. They are pollyannas who seem blissfully unaware of the real world and the dangers that surround us. That term of course comes from the 1913 novel by Eleanor Porter, about making the best of a bad situation. It has now been distorted to refer to ‘an excessively or blindly optimistic person’.

There are plenty of such folks around. As I say, sometimes they mean well, always trying to find a silver lining in every dark cloud. But when this comes at the expense of dealing with reality, then it can become quite unhelpful, even dangerous.

And some of the worst of these folks are the clueless Christians with their feet firmly planted in midair, seemingly unaware of what is in fact going on all around them. In addition to not facing reality, they are quite happy to throw out inane and mushy ‘Christian’ cliches, as they ignore great evil staring them in the face.

We had plenty of these Christians as we fought very real enemies such as the Communists or the Nazis. They refused to face reality, and simply wanted to believe that everything was fine in the world. By taking such a blinkered view of the real world, they actually contributed to the evil which unfolded.

We find actually the same mindset when it comes to the latest and most pressing menace of our time: the political ideology known as Islam. With perhaps 240 million people already killed in the name of this movement, and with daily headlines of gruesome beheadings, jihadist attacks, and suicide bombers, you would think the remaining pollyannas would have thinned out greatly.

But no, they are still out there in droves. And as I say, they often justify their head in the sand approach with rather vapid and meaningless Christianese. They are happy to glibly toss around pious platitudes which mean nothing really, and simply demonstrate their inability to think straight in a time when straight thinking is absolutely vital.

Consider just one recent example of this. Someone on another site posted a video which has been making the rounds of a hot-headed Muslim leader telling his followers to embrace jihad, sharia, and so on. And this was in a Western country. The room was packed full of “moderate Muslims” and they all fully agreed with what this leader was telling them.

That video is indeed a shocker, and should serve as a wakeup call to all of us. Yet some Christian wrote back quite indignant about all this, claiming that Islam was no big deal and that he was “NOT interested in the fear mongering campaign”.

He said in part, “My response as a Christian is not to worry about them taking over the world”. He went on to say that “My Christian response is to continue to keep sharing Jesus love and forgiveness with them”. He also proudly said that “God has not given me a spirit of fear!”

Hmmm, there are many things one can say in reply to this. The most obvious is this: are you in fact regularly sharing your Christian faith with Muslims here in the West? I have often said that God may be allowing Muslims to come to the West so that we might reach them for the gospel. But I am not aware of too many Christians doing that.

Whether this person is in fact doing this remains to be seen. Well done if he is, but this is generally not the case at all. But more can be said. To alert people to the very real threat of Islamic imperialism is hardly “fear mongering”. It is called facing reality and speaking the truth.

We had the same clueless wonders telling us the same thing when Communism and Nazism were killing millions. To warn people of what these evil ideologies were up to often met with the same idiotic reaction. And because of that, even more millions of people died.

The refusal to face reality simply means that we have blood on our hands. We are responsible – at least indirectly – for the death and enslavement of millions when we refuse to call evil what it is, and when we refuse to take our heads out of the sand.

Those German Christians who simply ignored or winked at the rise of the Nazis have a lot to answer for. They have blood on their hands. And these clueless Christians who want to ignore the reality of what Islam is all about also have blood on their hands.

They may glibly talk about no fear, but it is time they got a good healthy dose of some realistic fear. I fear greatly for my country, my society, my family, my children. I know how evil this ideology is. I do not want to see my loved ones beheaded, tortured, enslaved and killed en masse.

I have a healthy and proper fear of that happening, and because of that concern, I am working as hard as I can to protect those that I love. Pretending that they are safe and secure when they are all at risk is the height of moral irresponsibility. And it is hardly to be equated with Christian love and discipleship.

This pseudo-spirituality which ignores reality and puts us all at risk has nothing to do with biblical Christianity. It is a sham and a hoax, and simply leads to more evil being inflicted upon the world. Give me some hard-headed realism any day of the week.

I refuse to keep my head in the sand, and I will not have innocent blood on my hands.

Bill – you would be shocked what is being taught in our seminaries when it comes to living within our culture. Schools such as the Westminster Seminaries teach a “Two Kingdoms” theology similar to that taught in Germany just prior to the Nazis taking over both the nation and the churches. Basically it teaches a Gnostic dualism which overly spiritualizes Christianity and turns the culture over to the pagans. This theology renders Christians impotent to address and confront the evil in our cultures. The Apostle Paul addressed the influence of the Gnostics in the Bible and yet our seminary professors are falling into this trap once again! Go figure? But it helps to explain why Christianity is impotent to address the evil within our cultures today!

I just got hit with:
Yeah, but the old testament calls for stoning anyone who does not support the Sabbath, and slavery.

I think many have the opinion that we deserve to be persecuted, murdered, raped and enslaved because of what happened 3 thousand years ago.

Don’t forget all those who say we deserve it because of white privilege, or heterosexism, or Christian slavery, etc, etc, etc, on and on, ad hoc, until no one is left alive.

Sadly most people have given up on life, wish to die, but want to commit suicide by multiculturalism, homonormatism, and islamofacistism. That way they can say they were tolerant and it wasn’t really suicide as they were killed by someone else.
Anyhow, that’s my simple thoughts, hope they don’t upset anyone, seeing as I did not put any “trigger warnings” at the start, and thus could permanently damage someone’s poor sensitive psyche.

I have become a recent reader of your blog and have found it to be very profitable. I thank God for your scholarship and lucid way of addressing issues.

I have a question that you or some of your other readers may be able to answer with regards to Islam. I don’t think it is mentioned in the Bible, so therefore, even though it is a great threat to our society (as stated in your article), is it just another manifestation of sinfulness, or something we should be aware of from an eschatological perspective? Will it reach an apogee and die off, or will it last until the return of our Lord?

I agree we should not put our heads in the sand and take steps to protect our society. A case in point are the number of Christian organisations that seem to support open borders. My understanding of the Biblical treatment of aliens was that there was obligation on them to be lawful citizens, not to try and change the place where they have been given sanctuary. I think this may be where the Pollyannas have taken over the Christian comment in the media.

Thanks again for your work and I have enjoyed the comments of your other readers as well.

Thanks Troy. Good questions. I am not a fatalist, and do not believe things need be inevitable. Yes, God is sovereign and is working out his purposes, but he also entrusts much to us, and we can have a real impact on human history, and how it unfolds, at least to an extent.

As to Islam: on the one hand it could be part of God’s judgement on the West. On the other hand, we have an obligation to stand against evil. So I will both fight the political ideology, while using the opportunity of having Muslims in the West to share the gospel with them. The rest I will leave to God!

As regards to Islam, I have read on multiple occasions that Islamic scholars complain that the Bible was re-written to turn the Mahdi into the anti-Christ.
Many of the things that islam has written about it, many things that the imams and scholars say about the return of Christ, the Mahdi, are in fact all in the Bible, we know it as the anti-Christ.

It is interesting how Islam seems to have picked up on elements of the Bible (OT) and then twisted them to suit itself. I guess from my previous post I am implying that Islam seems to have had a marked effect on recent history at least and doesn’t rate a mention by God. I suppose, on further reflection, that Nazism etc aren’t identified and certainly not named in the Bible. I guess if God isn’t worried, neither should we be fearful. Of course I am aware God could annihilate Islam in a heartbeat. It is not for want of power that He doesn’t.

I take your points Bill about not being fatalistic. We certainly can pray and intercede for the protection of our nation from what is simply just another Satanic scheme to bring as much destruction on humanity as possible before the end.

Apart from the physical destruction, there has certainly been great confusion sowed. The Middle East is currently a complex battleground with no one really knowing which side to support. I have no idea whether Bashar Al Assad is good or bad or who is against or for IS or Al Quaeda. All I know is they all seem to be against the West and Israel, so why are we trying to pick a side from among them? Even Russia seems to sort of be on the same side as us (I think) as President Putin certainly has a hard line with Muslims there. But then what is his true agenda? “The enemy of my enemy, is my friend,” perhaps?

I’m glad God has it all under His control.

Bill, I enjoyed the insights from the article on Asylum Seekers you referred to in your reply.

A good post Bill. One the way home in the taxi from the airport a few weeks ago here in Auckland, I found the driver was a Muslim. I decided that this may be the only opportunity he has to hear the gospel so without being provocative I went straight for (one) jugular to him:

“Who was Jesus Christ?”

I am well aware what Muslims think of Jesus and the driver came up with a similar answer (many non-Muslims think we don’t believe in Jesus, but actually we believe he was a prophet and a holy man). Knowing that Muslims can’t conceive of a God who had marital relations with Mary to produce a son, I asked the driver another question:

In the Middle east, the phrase “He is a son of Iraq” or “he is a son of Syria” means that the man you are referring to comes from Iraq or Syria. What it doesn’t mean is that Iraq or Syria are personified and had relations with a women to produce a son. It is a phrase to be understood in non-sexual terms.

The same approach can be made with Jesus when we say “Jesus is the Son of God”. I don’t think one can make an exact equivalence between he is a son of Iraq etc and Jesus is the Son of God, but what it does do is introduce the central fact that Jesus is not an offspring in the way humanity is and relate it culturally to a phrase that also has the same aspect. For clarity, I should add that of course Jesus was fully human and fully divine.

I said to the taxi driver, what does it mean to you that Jesus is the son of God in this context? It was met with silence. I hope and pray he comes to know Jesus as his only LORD and Saviour.

Closing our eyes to lethal threats is an understandable and natural reaction. But it is not based on Christian charity or a sense of mission; it is petrification pure and simple. If we play dead, hide under the bedclothes, refuse to acknowledge threats for what they are or offer appeasement and no resistance to evil, we hope to avoid pain and suffering. This only works for the aggressors who get their own way without a fight.

Christians were seen as evil idolaters by Mohammed, to be ‘converted,’ humiliated and treated as virtual slaves, exiled or murdered, so today his ‘true’ followers see Christians and indeed anyone else who fails to submit to them, in exactly the same way.

If our official decision makers refuse to face up to the threat, don’t be surprised when unofficial ones take the law into their own hands and retaliate.

You’re on the mark, Bill. An ill tide is coming in from many directions, with seemingly few concerned. Wasn’t it CS Lewis who said “The devil doesn’t give us the luxury of fighting him on one front.” Sadly, re many church folk: quite often anything past football, cricket, soccer or some materialist twaddle is met with blank stares and a nervousness. Ministers and church leaders generally tend to be the most reserved on important pressing issues of our day- Islam is a classic example.

As usual, you not only give us great food for thought, but you also promote further insightful comments! I have a Christian neighbor who is a former pastor whose feet are not only planted on terra firma regarding the dangers of Islam, but thankfully, has been sharing the gospel with some Iranian neighbors. It is vital to be both aware of the dangers of Islam and awash with the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Well said mate,
I don’t like to admit it, and to be honest I’m still in two minds about this, but I think this has been a long time coming. My years of praying have been in vain. There have been too many times I’ve placed my faith in the Lord to sort out the problems of the world. I feel like I’ve been selfish, using my prayer as a scapegoat for actually getting my hands dirty. It’s been too convenient to lay back on the comforting cloud of prayer, pretending it’s out of my control.
But like you said, it’s time to get my head out of the clouds, and quit whispering words in the dark. Talk about facing reality. Sounds like nonsense as I wrote that.
Looking forward to your next post.

“Many policy makers in Britain and elsewhere felt that we should encourage these “nice” Nazis and woo them with concessions. They believed that if we did so, the moderates would eventually overwhelm the more militant wing of the party. This would then lead to a reinvigorated Germany which would be welcomed back onto the international stage.

Hindsight is of course an exact science and we now see the ridiculous folly of this vain hope. The Nazi party was always controlled by the militants. As the numbers of Nazis grew, the party gained power.

As they gained power, their methodology became increasingly violent. The “moderates” then found themselves in an unenviable position. They either had to join in the violence, or become a victim of it, to “kill or be killed”.

Human nature being what it is, few people will resist a threat of this nature. Within a very short time, the Nazis had taken control of the German Government and the rest, as they say, is history.”

Rev 16:13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.
Rev 16:14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.

The dragon is the Devil himself, the Beast is essentially the iniquitous, humanist, social opinion as is manifest on the internet (the Beast emerges from the sea of people) and the false prophet is Muhammed. This is why we see the very incongruous working of Islam with the Greens party and the media, for instance.

Of course, “no kingdom divided against itself can stand” and the Devil can’t help himself. His hatred for mankind actually hinders his effective use of his ability to deceive humanity.

One thing we should all learn from Islam is:-

Zec_4:6 … Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.

You would hope that with all the death, destruction and dysfunctional Islamic governments in the world even the followers of Muhammad would be questioning the approach of enforced conversion and unjust government.

How the battle emerges and unfolds is yet to be fully determined but it is very clearly time to stand shoulder to shoulder with all who treasure truth and justice.

The Antichrist is not just Muhammad it is anything that opposes God’s anointing – that is what it literally means. It can refer to any tool or deception Satan uses to prevent God’s work and indwelling within us. Eg. Richard Dawkins is an antichrist by his promulgation of atheistic religious belief and this is manifested by his obvious disdain for Jesus’ sacrifice.

2Jn_1:7 For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.

Hi Michael,
Yes mate, I am fully aware of exactly what you say, and I fully and totally agree with what you say. But I feel you may have missed “my” point on this subject.
I was commenting on a question that another poster had, I was in fact making a point about what muslims believe and teach.
Now truth and what someone or some group think, can and often are poles apart.
Muslims claim:
1/ mohumad and the Mahdi are in the Bible.
2/ Christians and Jews are uber evil and to cover up point 1, have changed the Bible.
3/The changes the uber evil Christians and Jews have made are, re-writing the Bible to make the Mahdi look like the anti-Christ. re-writing the Bible to make Jesus Christ into John the Baptist and mohumad into Jesus Christ. Next the Mahdi has been re-written to be “the anti-Christ”.
4/ there is also differences between “THE” anti-Christ, and just good ole fashioned garden variety anti-christs plural.

The Kurdish town they are currently fighting over has no specific strategic use to anyone, but they are fighting tooth and nails to get hold and control it, why? In their faith books, which they follow to the letter, claims that this is where the final battle will be launched from, it must start there, otherwise Jesus Christ will not appear, tear down crosses, kill anyone who does not convert to islam, and then the Mahdi will appear.

Now, as this is part of the over all plan they have, it is their goal, it is in their writings. But is it true? Is it fact? nope, but it is what they believe, I am just passing on what I have learnt about what they believe. know thine enemy.

Habakkuk 1: 5-7a:
5 “Look among the nations! Observe!
Be astonished! Wonder!
Because I am doing something in your days—
You would not believe if you were told.
6 “For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans,
That fierce and impetuous people
Who march throughout the earth
To seize dwelling places which are not theirs.
7 “They are dreaded and feared;

However, God knew what He was doing and later punished the Chaldeans/Babylonians/Medes/Persians (see Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the mighty statue, and the Rock that filled the Earth).

So it could still be that God uses Islam as an instrument of judgement on an apostate West, even though He might also see them as rebellious, fierce and evil terrorists to their enemies.

Regarding what is antichrist, Richard Dawkins nor his naturalist religion has not set up a mosque in the place of God’s temple that declares in Arabic script “Allah has no son” around it. Nor has he set up a religion that has targeted specifically Christians and to a greater degree Jews throughout the ages. Moreover, Mohammed demonic encouter in the cave is likewise a rare occurrence. So while there are many antichrist spirits out there, there is antichrist and then there’s antichrist.

Islam is hinted at in the same way Jesus is hinted at. When Moses traveled through Median (think Medina Saudi Arabia) they called one area the wilderness of Sin. Sin was a Moon God which was present in Assyria where Abraham came from but in Judaism and in Christianity it became associated with evil.

The evil empire comprises of Babylon, Greece and Persia. Not all Muslim countries join the ten nation coalition. Egypt is taken by force. Edom, Moab and Ammom escape from his hand (Jordan maybe part of Saudi Arabia). The way the bible talks about this is seven heads ten horns. ISIS seems to be trying to resurrect the ten kingdoms and they are being supported by Turkey and other Muslim nations.

Another point is the false prophet isn’t Mohammed. The false prophet looks like a lamb but speaks like a dragon.
The lamb of God is Jesus and Satan is the dragon, so the false prophet looks like Jesus but speaks like Satan.

In Islam there are two Jesus characters. Jesus the prophet who comes to tell Christians that Jesus is really a Muslim and will break the crosses and force Christians to convert to Islam. Then there is a Figure who calls himself Jesus claims to be divine and who is killed in a battle with the prophet Jesus. The prophet Jesus is called Isa and the Divine one is called the Dajjal.

This may not be true for all Islamic sects as Islam is as divided as Christianity. This is true for ISIS and for the extreme groups within Islam trying to bring Armageddon.

Thanks to all the contributors for your comments on this issue. You make some very interesting points. Michael Weeks, I appreciate your points. They did jog my memory and I think confirm where some of my thoughts on Islam come from.

Using a very simplistic summary of Revelation…”God wins.”

Thanks again Bill. It is great to be able to have great discussions on a blog without some of the carryings-on that occur on others.

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